The 38-year-old used his superior ring smarts to outwit the oncoming Pacquiao. Predictably countering his way to a points win.
A triumph that may now have negated the need for a lucrative rematch in the fall.
Mayweather surprisingly started the fight well. ‘TBE’ had Pacquiao thinking from the very first minute. He reduced the Filipino to short bursts of punches that a lot of the time where hitting gloves or missing the pound for pound king altogether.
Pacquiao, 36, enjoyed some success in the mid-rounds. He looked to have shaken Mayweather up on a couple of occasions.
But ultimately, Pacquiao didn’t have the key to unlock Mayweather’s defensive strategy and ran out of ideas towards the end of the bout.
Upon completion of the bout, there was no controversy as Mayweather took a 118-110, 116-112 (twice) triumph on the scorecards.
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In the process, settling the argument of who is the best fighter of a generation by adding Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title to his WBC and WBA versions.
In the aftermath, neither fighter mentioned a return that could have netted them another huge paycheck. It seems that both are willing to move on from the eagerly-anticipated clash that is sure to have broken all records as the biggest earner of all time.
Nursing a pre-fight shoulder injury, Pacquiao stated he wasn’t one hundred percent.
“In this training camp we thought about planning to postpone as for two weeks I didn’t train,” said Pacquiao.
“I couldn’t use my right hand and we filed the commission to see if we could use a shot to numb my shoulder, but we understand that we are not allowed so we didn’t.
“Two weeks before the fight, one week before the fight my shoulder was getting better, but not really one hundred percent recovered. At least I could use it although something was wrong. We went for an MRI and there is a tear in my right shoulder.
“I’m happy though that the fight was still good even though I couldn’t use my right hand so much. I had to back off from the third round because it hurt, but I didn’t complain in the ring. I didn’t want to make alibis.”
